Essays and Research Papers on American Literature

This 5 page report discusses how Jack Kerouac constantly offered the world a unique perception of the world through his writing and uses the example of the character of Bull Lee in “On the Road” to demonstrate how a person can live on the very edge of “normal” society. By the time the reader meets Bull Lee, ...

A 6 page paper which compares and contrasts the characters of Edna, from Chopin's "The Awakening," and Nora, from Ibsen's "A Doll's House." The paper also discusses their self image as well. No additional sources cited.

A 6 page paper which argues that the son, Julian, in Flannery O'Connor's "Everything That Rises Must Converge," spends a great deal of time rebelling against his mother rather than showing he loves her. This costs him a great deal in the end. No additional sources cited.

Ernest Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”: This 5-page essay discusses the significance and symbolism of the leopard and the hyena in this Hemingway classic. Adept in the use of symbolism, Hemingway not only impelled readers to think, but also was able to leave us with a myriad of introspective questions relevant to the melancholia of ...

A 5 page paper which considers how these novels show whether or not the promise of the American Dream, that personal happiness in the form of material success through hard work, is being kept. Specifically discussed is how each novel specifically defines the dream, and how the characters define themselves in relation to it. ...

A 6 page research paper that examines three disparate works that are, nevertheless, connected by their shared postmodernist perspective. These works are Thomas Pynchon's novel The Crying of Lot 49, Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash, and Peter Greenaway's film The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. While these works are vastly different ...

A 5 page paper which examines the author’s satirical style and the way in which he attacks the American stereotypes of living. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 5 page paper which analyzes how Yossarian represents an individual who opposes the will of the military majority, and discusses the moral and ethical implications for both Yossarian (the individual) and the society. No additional sources are used.

A 5 page essay that examines how Joseph Heller manipulates time in his novel Catch-22. The writer argues that by manipulating time and telling episodes from his protagonist's war experience out of chronological order, Heller facilitates conveying his main message to his reading audience, which is, first of all, that war is not only hell, ...

Stephen Crane – Literary Naturalist: This 11-page essay discusses the concept of “naturalism” in four of Crane’s most popular literary works: “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets”, “The Open Boat”, “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky”, and “The Blue Hotel”. . Overall, naturalistic writing depicts nature’s indifference to humanity’s fate, and the consequent need ...

“Employment opportunities for women in ‘Sister Carrie’ and ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’” A five page paper which compares and contrasts the socio-economic backgrounds in Dreiser’s ‘Sister Carrie’ and Zola Thurston’s ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’, in terms of the career opportunities available to women in the two novels, and considers the constraints which prevented the ...

This 5 page paper looks at Roth's Goodbye Columbus and Five Short Stories. The way in which the author looks at Jewish American life and societal reaction are explored. No additional sources cited.

A 5 page paper which compares and contrasts these novels, and also examines the theme of the American Dream in each. No additional sources are used.

A 10 page paper which analyzes how James achieves the effect of the uncanny so that the reader cannot ultimately decide whether the novella is a ghost story or a story of delusion and mental disorder. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 5 page paper which illustrates how Emily, in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," and Olaf, in Wright's "Big Black Good Man," are both characters who suffered intimidation. This argument fits in with Erich Fromm's statement that men are not free from society and judgements, which can be found in his book "Escape From Freedom." A comparison and contrast ...

6 pages in length. Bernard Malamud's The Assistant mirrors the social issues so prevalent within his other works, outwardly addressing political, cultural and economic concerns through the intensity of his story line and characterization. Following the life of a typical American whose life becomes irreversibly changed upon meeting and falling in love with ...

This 5 page paper provides an evaluation of Clifford Odets's Golden Boy. A description of the work is provided and it is critically evaluated for its contribution to both society and to literature. Themes of racism and homosexuality are explored. No additional sources cited.

A 7 page essay t hat contrasts and compares Richard Wright's Native Son and Willard Motley's Knock On Any Door. The writer argues that each novel is similar to a sociological case study, in that the social forces at work in the environment play an intrinsic role in the narrative. While, neither Wright nor Motley ...

A 20 page paper discussing the progress of family dysfunction in the 20th century using the characters of Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" and Sam Shepard's "Buried Child." These characters present an overwhelmingly depressing picture of the dysfunction of the family as it has progressed with alcohol as its origin. The Compsons are no more effective than ...

A ten page paper which looks at the works of Ernest Hemingway, and discusses how far the author’s own complex and tortured nature is reflected in the themes of his work and the way in which he draws on his own background and experience to convey the passions and tragedies of human existence to the ...

5 pages in length. The writer discusses how Twain attacks racism in his classic tale. No additional sources cited.

This 5 page paper considers symbolism, style, tone, setting and perspective in this short story. This is further demonstrated by comparing the story with other literary works including other Kate Chopin stories. The bibliography cites 7 sources.

A 6 page paper which discusses the development of the main character, Edna, in Kate Chopin's "The Awakening." Bibliography lists 3 additional sources.

5 pages in length. New criticism takes an entirely different approach to the fundamental basis of literature. In assessing F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby under this application, one finds that the autotelic element is quite apparent throughout the story, with Daisy representing perhaps the most obvious attributes of new criticism through figurative ...

This 5 page paper considers three of Kate Chopin's stories, the "Story of an Hour", "Ripe Figs", and "The Storm". Using these stories the writer examines how emotions and events are depicted with the positive and negative impacts of marriage and how this may be interpreted by a reader. The bibliography cites 3 sources.